Return of the Dragon
by Sujika
Summary: What happened to the world of Gaea after the girl from the Mystic Moon left? When a new chapter in history opens, another girl finds herself in the midst of the strange workings of the wondrous world. Folken pairing. T to be safe. Trying not to Mary Sue
1. The Bazaar

**Ch. 1: The Bazaar**   
From the darkness came the sound of wings, rushing through the air...Black wings...The reflection of light on the blade of a sword as it was quickly drawn from the sheath...The sound of the downfall of an empire...A sharp '_crack!_' as the blade tip broke...It entered his body...and he fell. The black wings were useless as he tumbled downward...down...down...until he hit the ground, and lay with his blood pooling beneath him.

Michiko Kondo sat up in bed, waking from the nightmare. She was drenched in a cold sweat. It had been so real...Watching that...man...was it a man? The nightmare had already started to fade. She glanced over at the clock: 1:26 A.m. She sighed and flopped back over in bed, hoping to get back to sleep.

"Sis, get up already. Harumi is on the phone for you," came the voice of Michiko's younger brother Taro from the darkness that was her pillow. 

"Taaarrrooo...Tell her I'll call her later..," she replied, still half asleep and quite frankly not wanting to remain awake at all.

Instead of listing to her, he simply put the phone up to his elder sister's ear.

"GET UP ALREADY LAZY! YOUR GOING TO BE LATE FOR CLASS AGAIN!" shouted Michiko's best friend Harumi over the cordless phone.

Michiko sat up quickly to her brightly lit room. It was blue, and had various articles of furniture all over it, most of which were littered with nick knacks, miniature swords, or various CDs. Several posters from her favorite anime were hanging in spots wherever she could find them, but that wasn't what made her room special: the most interesting thing about it was the sketches that lined the wall next to her bed. Each and every one had been done by Michiko herself. 

She grabbed the phone out of Taro's hand, and pushed him out the door so she could get dressed for school. "Harumi, why didn't you call earlier?! Agh!" she said into the phone, as she wrestled to put her school uniform on

"I was only on the phone with your brother for 15 minutes while he was trying to get you to wake up you know!" her friend replied, sounding a little annoyed herself.

"Alright alright!! I'll meet you at school!" Michiko hung up on her friend, tossed the phone onto her bed as she sat down to put on her socks, and then dashed out of her room and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Within five minutes she flung the door open again, her waist length brown hair combed, and her teeth brushed, ready to go. She ran downstairs, and grabbed her book bag and a piece of toast from her mother. The two had gotten this routine worked out quite well, as Michiko had been doing this most every day for the last 17 years...Basically, her entire life.

"Thanks Mom, see you later!" said Michiko as she kissed her mother on the cheek, slipped on her shoes, and then made a mad dash for school.

Of course it was only seconds later that Michiko was back.

She had forgotten her two additional bags; a small backpack made of black leather, in which she kept her art supplies, and her Kendo bag with her Bokuto, her training uniform, and her katana in. She was allowed to have the katana only for show purposes, because she was the captain of the Kendo team.

The sword was practically the team's icon: the handle was black, set with gold, and the hilt had a golden pattern of bamboo around the outer rim. The sheath matched the bamboo patter, but it ran vertically up and down the long case. The sword's blade was made of two types of folded steel, a softer one and then firmer steel for the blade; this made it very strong, and shock resistant. It had belonged to Michiko's grandfather before he died.

The black backpack had in it two very thick sketchbooks, one blank, the other about half full, and a case full of different pencils which Michiko used to do her sketches with. She spent whatever free time she could get drawing.

Her mother handed Michiko the bags, and she slung them over her shoulder. "Thanks again mom," said Michiko, giving her mother another kiss on the cheek, and then returning to the mad dash.

Michiko managed to stay very in shape from the combination of these morning runs to school and kendo practice.

She dropped her bag off in the kendo club room and then ran down the hall, skidding into class just as the bell rang. She sat quickly into her desk next to Harumi and let out a deep sigh of relief.

"That was cutting it a bit close you know..." said her friend, smirking a little.

"Thanks for the wake up call...I wouldn't have made it otherwise," replied Michiko, still out of breath.

Harumi had been Michiko's best friend since kindergarten, when Michiko had hit a boy who had stolen Harumi's new picture book repeatedly with a stick until he returned it. That also happened to be the day Michiko had taken her first kendo class.

Now Harumi had become the manager of the kendo club, so she and Michiko spent most of their time together. If it weren't for Harumi, Michiko would most likely have been late to school every day.

"Hey, after practice today, Izumi, me, and some of the other girls are going to the street bazaar downtown. Wanna come?" asked Harumi, smirking a lot.

"Of course, I'm always up for a shopping at craftsy places," said Michiko in reply. Harumi nodded, just as their teacher came up behind the both of them.

"Are you two quite done with your chat now? May I begin my class?" said Mr.Takahashi as they quickly shut up. This was followed by a slight laughter from the entire class.

Finally, the lunch bell rang. Michiko stretched in her seat, and glanced over to the window. Of course, she didn't actually get to see out the window.

There he was, sitting on his friend's desk, and chatting about a soccer game. It was Takashi Yoshida, the most beautiful boy in the entire school. He was tall, handsome, and second on the kendo team only to Michiko herself...or, at least that was the general opinion. They never got to test this because Takashi refused to spar with any girl on the team, despite how many times Michiko had challenged him, or how many times the rest of the team egged the two on.

Michiko had a very deep set crush on him. She always debated with herself whether it was his sandy blond hair, his green eyes, or the fact he was just taller than she was, which she loved. Apparently his mother was Japanese, but his father was originally from Germany.

She stared, slightly dazed, until she realized he was looking back at her, smiling as beautifully as always, and she made like she had been reaching to get her lunch out of her bag. Mostly, this action was to hide the fact that she had turned bright red. For some reason, it always took her a few minutes to get used to being around him; _then_ she could be herself.

She recomposed herself, and brought out her little lunch box and chop sticks. Then she glanced around at her friends, who all were staring at here, with smiles verging on maniacal.

"Go on! Go talk to him!" Izumi insisted. She was almost as pushy as Harumi, "Go! If you don't go over to him, we'll drag him over here to you. Don't think we won't!" she added, smirking just a bit more insanely than Michiko would have liked.

"Fine! You want me to talk to him? Alright...," said Michiko, as she turned over her shoulder, back towards the window. However, by the time she had agreed to it, he had disappeared from the desk. "Well, that settles that," she said under her breath, in what was a fairly relieved voice. Her friends groaned in disappointment.

"That settles what?" came a voice from behind her. Michiko turned around, to see Takashi standing right behind her. Her friends practically fell out of their desks laughing.

"Um...Um..." Michiko glanced over to her friends for some kind of support, but they all simply gave her looks that said 'Hurry up and say something to him!' She sighed, steeling herself for what she was about to say, when he cut her off.

"Hey Michiko...I was thinking. I've decided to take you up on all those challenges you've made to me. After practice today, why don't we have a little exhibition match?" he said, with his gorgeous green eyes staring directly into her own blue spheres, and his wonderful smile, seemingly just for her. Then he added, "...If you win, I'll carry your books for a week. However...If I win, you have to come see a movie with me this Friday night."

Michiko was shocked. She honestly wasn't entirely sure if she was dreaming or not. It took her a moment to realize what he had just said. As soon as she got the gist of it however she stood up and smirked just a little. "Alright Takashi, your on. Though you had better be ready to carry my books, because I don't intend to lose," she said, acting much more like herself than she had around him up to that point.

"Well alright then," said Takashi, grinning happily again. With that he turned and went back to his group of friends to eat lunch.

Michiko turned back to her own friends and lunch, sitting back down at her desk trying to hide a rather smug smile as she took a bite of rice. Before she could even eat one more bit of her lunch, Harumi and Izumi had dragged her out into the hall.

"You are so lucky Michiko! He wants to go on a date with you!" said Izumi, sounding almost as happy as if it were her.

"What are you going to wear? I mean I know movies are dark and all, but still it matters! What if you go out to dinner after?" said Harumi, who then proceeded to ramble about jewelry and hairstyles for several seconds until Michiko interrupted.

"Weren't you guys listening to what I told him? I don't intend to lose," she said, her smug grin getting even more so.

"What!? Michiko this is not a time for stupid pride to get in the way here!! This is Takashi! This is...like...The definition of beauty given human form!!" said Izumi, sounding rather shocked at what her friend had said.

"I know who he is very well thanks Izumi, but if he wants a date, he's going to have to earn it. I'm not throwing a match, especially not one I've waited for this long," Michiko replied with a happy grin.

"My friend, you are crazy, you know that?" said Harumi, trying not to just flat out laugh at the absurdity of this whole situation. Finally, the boy Michiko had been waiting for asked her out, and now she was going to fight him for it.

The rest of the day, and all of Kendo practice seemed to fly by, as if someone had put the clocks into fast-forward. In no time at all, it was time for the big match.

Michiko looked around the room, spotting every member of the kendo club, even those who never actually came to practice, and even a rather large number of students who had simply come to watch this match. Apparently, the news of Takashi vs. Michiko was worthy of a school-wide spread in only a few hours. However, Michiko wasn't going to let it get to her: being nervous never helped anything. Suddenly, she felt a warm kind of weight on her shoulder. 

"Are you nervous?" came Takashi's warm and airy voice from behind her.

"Nervous? Hardly. I'm just eager to finally spar with you," she replied, sounding confident. She glanced over her shoulder to see him smiling, and couldn't help but do so as well. That was just when Harumi came over.

"Are you both ready? Have you decided the terms of the fight yet?" she asked sounding somewhere between determined and excited, despite the fact she was just judging, and not fighting.

"Oh...Uh...No, not yet..." Michiko said, realizing she had completely forgotten how they were going to set up this match. Takashi always fought with a Shinai, and she used a Bokuto...It wouldn't be fair if they matched up like that.

Takashi however, seemed not to think much of it. "Well...how about this: We'll have three rounds; first to two points as usual...As to keep things fair, we can have it be a Kata match. I wouldn't want anyone saying I beat Michiko just because I had an advantage," he said with a happy smile even still, "...Since that means we won't be wearing armor...Only attacks to the torso and wrists will count, since I don't usually fight without padding. Does that sound fair to you?" He stared deeply into Michiko's eyes, filling her with a sensation like she was floating on air.

It took her a minute to realize she hadn't said anything. When she finally snapped out of it, she agreed whole-heartedly to the terms, and entered the square arena. She faced off in her fighting stance against Takashi, eagerly waiting for Harumi as the Judge to give the final ok to begin...

The first two matches had gone by quickly, Michiko taking the first, and Takashi the second. The crowd was going nuts, but neither of the fighters really heard it: they were both too focused...This last match was going to be the one to prove who the best in school really was.

Harumi signaled to start the final round, and before Takashi seemed to realize it, Michiko had called out "Left wrist!" struck with her Bokuto, and Harumi O.K.'d the point.

The next point was Takashi's, to the right side of Michiko's torso.

Finally, it was down to the last deciding point. As soon as Harumi signaled for the round to begin, it was like a clash of the titans. Each tried repeatedly to make strikes, one after another, though landing none worthy of the final golden point.

In one such instance when the two swords were locked at the hilts, the two barely six inches away from each other, Takashi smiled confidently. "You know, this has been a great fight! Now I'm wishing I hadn't waited so long to take you up on this!" he said, not losing any of his concentration while stopping to do so.

"Your right. Now I'm starting to understand why your so renound," Michiko replied, though something different happened to her.

It wasn't every day Michiko's opponents stopped to chat in the middle of the deciding match, and it threw her off a bit. Her foot slid a little backwards, and caught on a rip in the old fighting mat on the floor. She didn't know quite what was happening, but before anyone noticed she was falling, Takashi had scored the last point. After the match, she, Harumi, and Takashi were still the only ones who knew it had been the fault of old equipment that she had fallen.

Takashi helped her up off the ground, and Harumi patted her on the back in a reassuring way. "Come on Michiko, hurry and get changed so we can go to the bazaar..."

The bus ride to the bazaar downtown was a long one for Michiko. She was excited that she would be going out with Takashi, but...She was still disappointed that she had lost.

"Don't worry, you'll get him next time!" said Izumi encouragingly from the seat behind her. 

"Yeah...Your right," Michiko replied, starting to perk up a little, and get back to her usual self.

The next stop was the bazaar so Michiko, Izumi, Harumi, four of their friends, and two other people got up to get off the bus. Michiko grabbed her Kendo bag, her school bag, and her little black backpack off the seat next to her, and headed out the door, into the lively bazaar.

It was bright, colorful, musical, and very lively. It seemed that everyone here was having a wonderful time. Indeed, it was hard for Michiko to stay depressed over the match for long.

However, Michiko did have a terrible habit: she was infatuated with the kind of jewelry that people made and sold at this bazaar. She would dawdle for as much as 20 minutes without noticing she hadn't moved. She liked to look at the designs, to give her ideas for new drawings. 

"Michiko, hurry up!" shouted Harumi from down the way. She and their other classmates were starting to leave without her. 

"Wait up Harumi, I'm coming!" Michiko shouted back to her friend as she looked over a new jewelry booth. Her eyes gazed over the gold and silver necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings that littered this specific table.

Some had black stones, some had blue, some had red, but Michiko spotted the only one in the many pieces with a rose colored one.

It was a necklace with a silver chain. The circular rose stone was set into the center of a small silver circle, which could move around the stone. 

"Oh...that's..." Michiko started, her eyes lighting up as she spotted it. Then she spotted the price tag. Immediately, her smile fell completely flat.

The merchant owner of the stand glanced upward, so his eyes left the magazine he had been reading and met hers. "You like that one young lady? Try it on," he said with a friendly smile.

"Oh...well...I would but..." her stuttered statements made it obvious that she didn't have enough money for the necklace. She looked back down at the lovely necklace in her hand, and the pink crystal caught the light just perfectly.

"Just try it on," he repeated, still smiling the same friendly smile.

Michiko sighed and returned the smile before slipping the necklace around her neck.

"MICHIKO! HURRY UP!!!" yelled Harumi, who was getting even further down the street with the others.

"It looks beautiful on you. Now go on, I think your friends are waiting for you," said the booth manager.

"But I don't have ene-..." before she even finished, the booth manager cut her off again.

"Don't worry. It seems to me that necklace was made for you," he replied happily.

"Are you really sure? I mean...This is so beautiful..." she said, looking down at the silver hoop and rose jem. She felt better about the day just by looking at it.

"Yes, I am. I sell my jewelry only to those who are fit to wear it...Never before have I seen that necklace take to anyone," he replied with a certain air to his voice that was both truthful, and decided. 

Michiko thanked him, and then ran to meet up with Harumi and the others down the street. She turned to look over her shoulder at the stand, but couldn't see it.

'That's weird...Where did it-'before she could finish the thought, she collided into someone. "Ouch...Sorry..." said Michiko as she looked up to see who she had run into.

"You know, you seem to be spending a lot of time on the ground today," the person she had hit was none other than Takashi. He stood, still smiling that beautiful smile, with his hand extended to her.

Michiko took it, and quickly got to her feet, dusting herself off once she was standing again. "Hi Takashi…" she said, turning a little red, but all in all remaining more herself than she had ever before in a short period of time. "What are you doing here?" she asked, thinking it was a very strange coincidence. 

"Well...Um...That's...Its a funny story actually um...I sort of...Came here...To look for you," said Takashi, turning more red than Michiko had ever seen anyone.

"You did?" she seemed a little more than surprised that he'd come to look for her...It was...cute, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah...Would you ever...Um...Wander the bazaar with me for a little while?" he asked, seeming completely embarrassed.

Michiko smiled, and took his arm. "I'd love to," she replied as she started to watch his expression change from nervous and embarrassed to his usual happy and friendly smile.

"MICHik...Oh," Harumi blinked squarely, as she stood just down the street, mid-yell, having spotted the pair. Michiko had spotted her, but Takashi had not. Harumi smiled, and waved for her friend to have a nice time: as long as she was given full details later on.

Michiko got the signal, and smiled, nodding a bit in reply. As she watched Harumi run off, and then looked up at Takashi. He was smiling at her. 


	2. One Suprise after Another

**Ch. 2: One Surprise After Another**  
The two spent the entire day together. Michiko couldn't get the thought off her mind that this must be some kind of dream; that there was no way this could be happening to her. But, there it was.

They had left the bazaar after not too long, and headed to the park. Once there, Takashi bought her an ice cream, which they split, and took her to his favorite place in the park. It was a little gazebo on a hill, overlooking a pond. 

"Takashi, this place is so beautiful!" said Michiko, sounding very impressed. She sat down on the grass next to the small white structure, pulled her sketchbook and pencils out of her backpack, and started to draw out the scene.

"You like it? I'm glad...What are you drawing?" asked Takashi, as he sat down next to her. He glanced over, and looked at the outline of the image before them. It was very nearly perfect, if sketchy so far. "Wow, Michiko, that's really good!" he didn't know what to say.

"Its just a sketch...It should look better later," she replied, smiling happily. She looked up from the picture, into his eyes, and said, "Would you like it? I mean...When its done of course..." 

His eyes lit up. "Would you really do that for me? Its so good..." he looked like an amazed child...A very cute amazed child.

"Of course. Consider it yours," she replied with a return smile.

Takashi watched her draw for a little while, the sketch slowly turning into a drawing. The lines were perfect in every way, and it honestly looked like a photo. "Do you have any other drawings in there?" he asked, as he noticed her starting to put her pencils away.

"Oh, yeah. Would you like to see some of them?" Michiko replied, happy he was showing an interest. When he nodded, she opened it up to the front page, and explained what some of the pictures were.

There were very many pictures of landscapes, people, and tons of other things. However, there was a noticeably reoccurring theme: Images where there were two moons hanging in the sky; strange and beautiful cities; people in strange clothing...but all the pictures were lovely.

"Who is this?" asked Takashi, pointing to one image. It was a picture of a man with a tear-drop tattoo on his right cheek. His eyes were beautiful, but very sad...There had been many pictures of this man in the sketchbook, or at least many pictures with him in them.

"I've never really been able to figure that out...I just...I love to draw him," Michiko replied, as she flipped the page. She looked onto a new drawing, with a happy look of surprise.

Takashi spotted it. "What's up?" he asked, tilting his head just a little to one side, and wondering what could have caused that look.

"Oh, well...I have a...Rather odd problem...Some people sleep walk, I sleep-draw," she said, with a bit of an airy laugh on her voice. The new image was of the same man as the last picture, but he had his shirt down around his waist, and black wings coming out of his back in this one...It showed that his right arm was metal, and came down into a clawed hand.

"Really? I've never heard of that before," Takashi laughed a little bit. It was a kind laugh however, not a laugh of disbelief.

Michiko turned the page, to see the next one and looked differently surprised...This time it was shock. The picture on the next page showed him lying on the ground on his back, with a small tip of a sword stuck in his chest. She remembered this one: The dream from the night before was brought sharply back into memory.

"What happened? Why did you draw him dead?" he seemed sad, not really alarmed, like most people would be.

"I don't know...I had a dream like this last night...but I don't remember what happened other than this..."She could almost cry, just looking at the expression on the man's face in the picture.

Takashi took her hand, and slowly closed the sketchbook. "Come on, lets go do something fun," he said, smiling warmly again. It was then, that he placed a delicate kiss on her cheek, and stood up. He extended his hand to her, helping her onto her feet again.

She smiled as she got up, blushing quite a lot as she did so. The feeling that the picture had brought on already fading into the background of her mind, very much thanks to Takashi's smile, and the feel of his soft lips...Michiko picked up her little black backpack, and her Kendo bag, and they made to leave the park, hand in hand.

Takashi had insisted on walking Michiko home, despite the distance. He said it would give them more time to talk. Michiko was more than happy to oblige.

By the time they were even entering her neighborhood, the streetlights had come on, and the sun was for the most part down. Michiko was walking on cloud nine. She had never felt so wonderful in her whole life. They waited for the light to change, so they could cross the street.

The light changed, and they hurried across, but Michiko tripped in a little pothole as they did so. Fortunately, Takashi caught her before she fell. _Unfortunately_, her grandfather's Katana didn't have anyone to catch it. It fell out of the bag, onto the street. Michiko only noticed it after they had gotten to the other side.

"Hang on just a second..." she said, turning back into the street to retrieve the priceless keepsake. What she didn't see, was the car heading down the street. 

"Michiko! Look out!!" shouted Takashi, running towards her as he spotted the car.

It was too late however: she was already leaning down to pick up the sword, and the car was only about 15 feet away from her; she couldn't have gotten out of the way if she tried...Her eyes grew wide as a scream left her lips, and she clutched the sword tightly. The car was coming closer...It was so close she could see the driver's shocked expression...There was an odd pinkish flash...The car was right in front of her...then...below her...suddenly, the entire street, Takashi included, was several hundred feet below her.

Michiko felt strange...Her body was wrapped in a warm, light feeling…She felt so good...She just wanted to close her eyes for a moment...Slowly, her eyelids fell...She felt herself being laid down onto cool, soft grass...When her eyes opened again, she was staring up into a clear blue sky...She had seen this sky before...

"Am I dead...?" she asked herself out loud, as she blinked in the bright sunshine. She reached her right arm across her body, and pinched herself on the left arm. The sharp pain sensation helped her to realize she was not dead, nor was she dreaming.

Michiko sat up, and looked around...She was sitting in the middle of a forest. Her kendo bag and black backpack were next to her on the grass. She was drawn to look at the sky again...and realized that above her head hung two moons. "What the...?" she couldn't even express her shock in words. 

"Okay...Okay...This...This obviously has some kind of explanation...That is perfectly logical..." she said, trying to calm herself down after a few moments of stunned silence. She glanced back up at the sky, towards the two moons, recognizing the larger as Earth.

However no matter how hard she tried to think of one, Michiko couldn't come up with any kind of way to explain this. Here she was, in a world she had only dreamed of.

Finally at a loss for anything else she could do, Michiko decided to actually look at something besides the sky. As she turned her eyes back to the planet she sat upon, she noticed two things that should have caught her attention long before: What appeared to be a family grave, and a large metal statue.

She stood up, and brushed off her skirt just a little before walking over to the statue. She felt...somewhat drawn to it. It had large green crystals in the shoulders, and wore a long dark cape with a red liner. She examined it for a moment, and then realized something about the third crystal on the metal form: The stone set into the one side of the chest was exactly the same rose color as the one on her new pendant.

"That's...Odd..." Michiko stopped for a moment, and then thought that really nothing about this was even remotely normal. She raised her hand and started to reach out to touch the crystal, but then stopped and drew her hand back. She didn't know why exactly, but felt slightly as though she shouldn't touch it.

She instead decided to run back over to where her bags still lay in the grass, and withdrew her sketchbook. She looked around the clearing, to try and find the best angle to draw the strange statue from.

After a few moments Michiko sat down in a sunny spot, with her back facing the grave. She opened the paper pad, flipping through the pages until she came to the sketch of her dream. She examined it for second or so with a rather sad expression before she turned to the next clean page and began to sketch this strange armor statue.

_  
'Within three months of your death, you will meet a girl from the mystic moon'_

These words echoed in his mind...Where had he heard them before? Something caught his attention...A fragrance...He could smell it clearly; the scent of old death. It was choking...Almost unbearable...He slowly opened his deep red eyes, vision blurred even through what seemed inescapable darkness.

His sight slowly began to clear, leading him to an even more stifling feeling of claustrophobia as he made a heart-stopping realization: he was inside a stone tomb. He raised his hands to the low top of the casket, his eyes moving from the clawed metal fallen into disrepair that was his right hand...to the awful sight of his left; White bone only barely revealed beneath rotten, decaying flesh.

He stared at the hand only for a moment, trying to hold back a scream of shock, until before his eyes it began to right itself...Tissues reconnecting and repairing, smooth skin once again covering the muscles in his organic hand, and the cold gleam returning to the steel of the other.

He pressed his palms against the dense stone and quickly forced the lid from his tomb, sending it to the floor with a low thud that rippled through the silence of the crypt like rings on the surface of a pool of water. He sat up, breath still shaking from the shock. He took a moment to recompose himself before looking around.

The dark surroundings were somewhere he recognized...His family crypt. The same stench of death that woke him hung stagnant in the air of the dimly lit room.

He lowered his shirt around his waist and looked down at his chest. His eyes immediately caught sight of the thin white scar...Yes...That was where the broken tip of his blade had pierced him...Causing his fall, and then his death.

The young man sat in his grave in shock, wondering how in Gaea's name he was alive.

After a time, he lifted himself from the tomb, only to find his legs weak beneath him. He grasped the edge of the coffin he had slept in to support himself, his strength slowly seeping back into his legs. Before long, he was able to move again, and without even a shadow of hesitation, he made for the exit.

Michiko let out a contented sigh as she looked down at the image of the grand metal statue before her. She had been sitting there for maybe an hour, and the light had begun to fade. The sketch was a flawless replication of the sight before her. With a slight smirk, she packed her things away 

She looked up and around the rest of the clearing for the first time in what seemed to be an age. The dense forest around her seemed much darker now, in contrast with the glade which allowed more light upon the grass.

That was when she saw it: a huge fanged lizard. She froze completely in place as it spotted her also, and crouched low like a cat about to pounce on its prey. She reached back to her bag and touched the hilt of her katana reflexively, however little help it might be against such a beast. Its eyes narrowed as it readied for the attack.

There was a sound to the left...A grinding noise of stone on stone, skidding to the side...Michiko took little notice however, as it had distracted the creature in front of her. She leapt to her feet and grabbed her bags before starting a dash away from the predator. Her movement quickly regained its attention. The monster caught up to her easily, opening its large, many-fanged jaws surely to engulf her.

Suddenly Michiko felt strong arms closing around her waist, pulling her out of the way just in front of a jet of golden flame that easily engulfed a nearby tree. She looked up at her rescuer, to see a strangely familiar face...A face with a teardrop tattooed on the right cheek.

"Its you!" she said suprisedly, eyes wide with shock as he set her down very carefully, but then took her wrist in his clawed hand and started to run. He didn't seem to have heard her.

"Hurry, it isn't safe yet. That land dragon could still catch up t o us easilly," he called over his shoulder to her as they sped onward.

"Dragon?! That was a dragon?!" said Michiko, shock only growing within her...Well...The description of the monster fit, to say the least...

Onward they ran, until he led her to a small opening in a cliff face near by, and hurried inside. Only then did he release her wrist.

As soon as he had, Michiko threw her bags down onto the ground, and drew her katana. "Okay, what on Earth is going on here? How did I even get here?! And you...Just who are you anyway?! Wh-" before she could finish, he pushed her sword down with his clawed hand, and covered her mouth with his other, pulling her away from the opening. 

"Shhh..." he whispered, glance turning to the crack through which they had entered their hiding place. From the shadows where they stood, only barely visible was the passing form of the dragon.

Michiko's eyes widened again as the beast passed by. She waited with baited breath until the dragon passed, and he finally let go of her.

"I apologize for that," he said calmly, stepping back to giver her some space to think, "But I thought it to be in our best interests not to be roasted alive."

She stood facing him, Katana down, in complete wonder of him. "Who are you?" she asked again quietly.

"My name is Folken Lacour de Fanel. It's a pleasure to meet you," He said in the same calm tone as ever.


End file.
